Greenroofs.com Project of the Week: 4/03/17

The former site of the iconic Rich’s Department Store (Atlanta’s most popular retailer throughout the late 19th and 20th centuries), the present Sam Nunn Atlanta Federal Center serves as the home of several federal agencies, including the GSA and EPA Region 4, and is one of Atlanta’s most environmentally friendly facilities. The center encompasses the six-story Rich’s Building and its beloved clock as the cornerstone of the facade (from 1924), the 10-story Midrise, the eight-story Bridge Building, and the 24-story high-rise Tower. Utilizing American Recovery and Reinvestment Act funds, the $2.6 million project renovation’s goals, consistent with the General Services Administration’s roofing program, were to provide thermal and moisture protection; conserve energy and the environment; reduce utility costs; and help attain energy security by meeting Energy Independence and Security Act requirements.

In testing the roofs’ structural integrity, it was determined that part of the Rich’s portion could not support a vegetated roof; it was changed to a white, 60 mil Tremco “Cool Roof.” But the two Tremco vegetated roofs are highlights of the buildings with planting plans designed by Tremco Roofing’s Mary Ann Uhlmann. Installed by Greenrise Technologies, more than 198,000 colorful sedums, delospermas, native cacti, alliums and more were planted 3 per sf and are set in 4″ of growing media from ItSaul Natural. The combination of roofing systems is meeting the project goals, providing such benefits as a lower installed cost than planned, cutting heating and cooling costs, reducing stormwater runoff by more than 600,000 gallons, and reducing the strain on rooftop HVAC equipment. The collaborative efforts of the National Building Contractors team and the GSA designed a vegetated roof system that not only reduced greenhouse gas emissions but also recycled 80% of the existing roof material including the pavers, waterproofing membrane, and rigid insulation.

The former site of the iconic Rich’s Department Store (Atlanta’s most popular retailer throughout the late 19th and 20th centuries), the present Sam Nunn Atlanta Federal Center serves as the home of several federal agencies, including the GSA and EPA Region 4, and is one of Atlanta’s most environmentally friendly facilities. The center encompasses the six-story Rich’s Building and its beloved clock as the cornerstone of the facade (from 1924), the 10-story Midrise, the eight-story Bridge Building, and the 24-story high-rise Tower. Utilizing American Recovery and Reinvestment Act funds, the $2.6 million project renovation’s goals, consistent with the General Services Administration’s roofing program, were to provide thermal and moisture protection; conserve energy and the environment; reduce utility costs; and help attain energy security by meeting Energy Independence and Security Act requirements.

In testing the roofs’ structural integrity, it was determined that part of the Rich’s portion could not support a vegetated roof; it was changed to a white, 60 mil Tremco “Cool Roof.” But the two Tremco vegetated roofs are highlights of the buildings with planting plans designed by Tremco Roo?ng’s Mary Ann Uhlmann. Installed by Greenrise Technologies, more than 198,000 colorful sedums, delospermas, native cacti, alliums and more were planted 3 per sf and are set in 4″ of growing media from ItSaul Natural. The combination of roofing systems is meeting the project goals, providing such benefits as a lower installed cost than planned, cutting heating and cooling costs, reducing stormwater runoff by more than 600,000 gallons, and reducing the strain on rooftop HVAC equipment. The collaborative efforts of the National Building Contractors team and the GSA designed a vegetated roof system that not only reduced greenhouse gas emissions but also recycled 80% of the existing roof material including the pavers, waterproofing membrane, and rigid insulation.

Each week you can expect to learn What’s New here on Greenroofs.com through our “This Week in Review” video. Here is the transcript from June 22, 2012 from our daughter, Anjuli – click on the photo below to see the video, or here. Enjoy!

– Hello, I’m Anjuli Velázquez and welcome to “This Week in Review” for June 22nd, 2012 on GreenroofsTV.

– Our project of the week is the Sam Nunn Atlanta Federal Center, built in 2010 in Atlanta, Georgia. The former site of Atlanta’s most popular retailer throughout the late 19th and 20th centuries, the iconic Rich’s Department Store, the present Sam Nunn Atlanta Federal Center serves as the home of several federal agencies and is one of the city’s most environmentally friendly facilities. The high-rise building of the Center houses a forested courtyard with a stand of approximately 50 maple trees, flowering cherry trees, and various other deciduous species, as well as native drought-resistant vegetation and paths of semi-pervious concrete pavers.

Utilizing American Recovery and Reinvestment Act funds, the $2.6 million project renovation’s goals, consistent with the General Services Administration’s rooï¬ng program, were to provide thermal and moisture protection; conserve energy and the environment; reduce utility costs; and help attain energy security by meeting Energy Independence and Security Act requirements. In 2011 the Sam Nunn Atlanta Federal Center received the inaugural RoofPoint™ Award from the Center of Environmental Innovation in Rooï¬ng for “Excellence in Life Cycle Management,” distinguished by its efficient re-use of original roofing materials, and it has received other awards, too.

The two vegetated roofs are beautiful highlights of the buildings, with more than 198,000 colorful sedums, delospermas, native cacti, alliums and more from Saul Nurseries. They were planted 3 plugs per square foot and are set in 4 inches of growing media from ItSaul Natural in a planting plan designed by Tremco Rooï¬ng’s Mary Ann Uhlmann.

– To learn more about the Sam Nunn Atlanta Federal Center, click on our project of the week photo on our homepage (or on the above photos).

– A three-bill package sponsored by New Jersey Assembly Democrats Ruben Ramos, Jr., John McKeon, Wayne DeAngelo, and Connie Wagner, which is designed to encourage the proliferation of environmentally-friendly buildings, has been approved.

– Charles A. Birnbaum of the Huffington Post talks about “The Real High Line Effect — A Transformational Triumph of Preservation and Design.” New York’s High Line, the stretch of abandoned elevated railroad on New York’s West Side that has been transformed into a public park and one of the city’s most popular destinations, has generated a lot of buzz about the so-called “High Line effect.” Several cities are looking at their own forgotten areas, trying to figure out how they too can transform them into environmentally-friendly spaces. The High Line was made possible by a team of landscape architects, architects, horticulturalists, engineers and others, led by James Corner Field Operations, and they were able to keep historic preservation and design.

By the way, the High Line isn’t the only successful “adaptive reuse” approach that works; San Francisco’s Crissy Field was an asphalt airfield and now is a “must-go-to destination that connects San Franciscans with their industrial waterfront heritage while restoring and conserving its natural and ecological values.”

Other projects include the 36-acre Point State Park in Pittsburgh, Tampa’s NationsBank Plaza, designed in the 1980s by Dan Kiley and now known as Kiley Garden, and Philip Johnson’s Water Garden in Fort Worth, Texas. Landscape architect Laurie Olin suggests that when thinking about changes to an urban landscape that has a history, the conversation should address what stays and what goes and the virtues of bringing something new or an addition to an existing site.

– Rachel Nuwer of ecomagination.com says, “Eating on a Green Roof: New York’s Buildings Provide Food, Habitat for Wildlife.” She says, “New York’s green roofs do more than add a splash of green to the urban habitat. They also provide a crucial stopping ground and habitat for birds flying through.

Researcher Dustin Partridge tracks the insect life on roofs throughout New York to see if the roofs are providing food sources for the birds.” The author visited Partridge on one of his roofs and put together a great video on the full article about the studies he’s conducting on New York’s green roofs. He talks about the visiting birds and what wildlife benefits green roofs provide and compares the data he received with traditional black roofs.

– To learn more about these stories and new ones posted daily, go to our In the News or Newslinks section of our website.

– Send us your green articles, videos and images to editor@greenroofs.com and share your greenroof or greenwall info with the world!